The years gone by
by Barking.Mad.Black
Summary: My first ever fanfic! Basically what happens after the Battle of Hpgwarts until Albus goes to Hogwarts...but there are a few surprises along the way! slight Ron/Hermione
1. Chapter 1

Prologue

"He spotted Ginny two tables away; she was sitting with her head on her mothers shoulder; there would be time to talk later, hours and days maybe even years in which to talk.

Together he, Ron and Hermione left the Great Hall and made their way up to Gryffindor Tower thinking now only of the four-poster bed lying waiting for him, "I've had enough trouble for a lifetime.'"

-Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows


	2. the surprise of all surprises

_This story isn't going to follow the original storyline set out by J.K Rowling, so if you don't like it…oh well…_

_I couldn't picture George without Fred…so he's still alive._

"Ron, let him sleep!" Hermione all but shouted at him so she wouldn't wake a sleeping Harry.

"I know, but he needs to know that-" Hermione cut him off.

"He'll find out when he wakes up!"

"But-"

"But nothing Ronald! Let him sleep!"

Ron stopped with his retort on the tip of his tongue. He knew that whenever Hermione used his full name like that, she was really starting to get annoyed with him.

"After all he's been through he deserves some sleep. Plus, I want to know something." Hermione blushed as she said this.

Ron knowing that she was talking about the kiss they shared in the chamber of secrets, also blushed. Although, he was a little confused as to what she wanted to know about the kiss and, evidently, this was shown on his face.

"Oh, no" Hermione rushed to assure him before he could jump to conclusions "it's nothing bad, I promise. It's just, well, I was…was wondering…erm …does this, does this mean we're official now?"

Ron let out a breath of relief he never even knew he was holding. He was secretly hoping that she wasn't having second thoughts about them being a couple.

"Yes, yes, Hermione, this means we're official."

At this her face split into a huge grin that could rival Ron's. he was feeling a little braver and said "do you want to seal it with a kiss?"

Now his lips were completely attached to Hermione's eager not to let go anytime soon.

Suddenly the door flew open and standing in the door way were, none other than the Weasley twins Fred and George, looking outraged.

Ron and Hermione jumped apart quickly.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" asked Fred.

"Well Fred, it appears that we have intruded on a very private moment." answered George.

"And in front of Harry when he could wake up at any minute and see you two snogging the faces off each other!"

"He's would be scarred for life!" Fred cried in outrage.

"Oh yes, he just defeated the most feared dark wizard known and will be scarred by Ron and I kissing!" snapped Hermione.

"Well, it was a pretty scary sight wasn't it George?"

"Ye-" but the look on both Ron and Hermione's faces stopped his answer.

"Um, Fred maybe we should leave, Hermione looks like she's about to hex us."

Fred Quickly agreed and they left laughing at them.

Once they were gone Hermione turned to Ron.

"Okay lets go, give Harry some peace to sleep."

She had just turned to leave when Ron called after her.

"Wait! I want to do this properly."

"Do what properly? What are you talking about Ron?"

Instead of answering her question, he asked one of his own.

"Hermione Jean Granger, will you be my girlfriend?"

Her answer: "Yes, Ron, of course I will!"

At this their faces split into identical grins and they left the room hand-in-hand, leaving a sleeping Harry to his dreams of a certain red-headed witch.

Harry awoke a little later, wanting desperately to go back to sleep. He had been having the best dream he had had in a while. He was dreaming about Ginny.

Ginny.

Her name alone was enough to give him the strength to sit up and get out of bed. He slipped on his glasses and padded barefoot to the bathroom with the intention of having a nice hot shower.

Once in the bathroom, he took off his dirty clothes and stood in front of the mirror trying to assess the injuries he had received over the past few months. But it turned out that he was too dirty to see them properly and decided to check them after his shower.

As soon as Harry stepped under the hot water in the shower he felt himself relax immediately and he just stood there and let the water work it's magic. He let it rinse the dirt and dry blood from his hair and body. Whilst this was happening, he let his mind wonder. He kept asking himself the same questions over and over again.

What will happen now? Will everyone hate me for all the deaths I have caused? What will Ginny say? What will she do now? What is she has moved on? Will she take him back? Does he deserve to be taken back?

These thoughts were repeated in his mind until he realised that he had probably been in the shower for the best part of an hour. He turned the water off and stepped out to dry himself off. Now that he was clean, he could see his injuries better. He had a cuts and bruises on both legs and a few on each arm. He had many cuts on his face. His torso had the worst of it. It was completely covered in cuts, some deeper than others, and it looked like on big giant bruise. He was sure more than half of these would turn into scars.

But the thing that caught his attention was the big lightening shaped scar directly over his heart, where Voldemort hit him with the killing curse for second and last time.

He got dressed and started to make his way out of the dormitory and into the common room, where he knew Mrs Weasley would give his one of her famous bone-crushing hugs, then demand that he goes and see's Madam Pomphrey to get checked over.

He walked into the common room and was taken by surprise: it was empty!

He stood in shock for a minute, then the portrait hole opened and Harry was snapped back into reality. Everyone must have been down at breakfast. The Weasley's came in and stood in front of him and one by one gave him a hug. Last of all was Mrs. Weasley, she rushed forward and seized him in her famous hug. After she pulled away, he caught sight of Ginny, the only Weasley that didn't hug him. He hoped he would have time to do it later. He realised that he had been looking at her for longer than normal and quickly looked away only to do a double-take.

There, standing in the back of the room were his parents, Sirius, Remus and Tonks, alive and well.


	3. Quite a shock!

**Authors Note:**

I don't own any Harry Potter characters you may recognise.

The only thing I own is the plot for this story.

I do not own Harry Potter, sadly L

**oOo**

Harry stood there gaping like a goldfish at the people he once thought were dead. The people Harry had missed the most. The people that Harry kept wishing would come back to him. And now here they were, standing right before his eyes, looking at him with so much pride shining in their eyes.

There was a strangled silence around the room as everyone looked to and from Harry and the recently dead people. Ginny broke the silence by taking a tentative step forwards and almost blushed when all eyes immediately turned to her.

"Hey Gin," Harry spoke timidly, knowing that she would either be upset or angry, maybe both. As Harry had thought, it made Ginny angry. Her eyes slashed dangerously as she took another step towards Harry and he shrunk a little under her glare. This only seemed to amuse everyone else.

"Oh sure, he can kill the darkest wizard out there, but set a red-headed girl on him and he's terrified." Sirius only meant for his best friend James to hear but due to the silence in the room, everyone heard and chuckled slightly.

Everyone, apart from Ron and Hermione were confused as they watched the performance between Harry and Ginny. They never knew about Harry and Ginny dating or the birthday kiss in Ginny's room.

"Hey Gin," repeated Ginny. "Hey Gin, HEY GIN!" She yelled so loudly that everyone jumped but she took no notice of this as she kept advancing on Harry until she stood right in front of him. Harry looked and felt terrified of the young witch that was standing in front of him. Everyone was trying and failing to hide their smiles and smirks but Sirius openly stared sniggering. This only left James and Lily confused as to why this little fiery red-head was angry at their son.

**oOo**

The slap echoed around the common room and left everyone in shock. Harry was desperately clutching to his stinging cheek where Ginny had slapped him. Sirius ended up having to stuff his fist in his mouth to keep from laughing.

"GINNY!" yelled Mrs Weasley.

"No," replied Ginny, "he deserves it."

"How? How do I deserve it?" questioned Harry.

"You left. You left me because you thought I would be safe but I wasn't. You left me thinking I would never see you again. You left me scared half to death if you were dead or ever coming back." she said all this with tears in her eyes and Harry immediately felt guilty because Ginny never cried in front of anyone. He knew how hard this had been on her and he regretted it immediately.

"Gin, I'm sorry. I thought I was-" but he was interrupted by Ginny.

"If you say you 'thought you were doing the right thing' so help me Harry, I will do much worse than slap you!"

By the end of Ginny's little rant, James and the Weasley brothers had joined Sirius in trying to muffle their laughter.

"But," continued Ginny. This made Harry hopeful. "You came back so…"

Ginny, quick as lightening, has grasped his face and was kissing him with fervour. Harry wasn't complaining, so he kissed her back just as passionately. He didn't know how long they had stood in their embrace. It could've been hours but both Harry and Ginny had missed this too much to care at the moment. Suddenly, someone cleared their throat and they broke apart breathless.

"Erm, Harry mate" said Ron "I'm happy for you and all, but you might not want to do that in front of her protective big brothers and her parents"

Harry and Ginny blushed.

Harry looked over at his parents to find them beaming at him and he felt himself grinning back. He had never felt this happy, having the woman he loved in his arms and having all the people he loved surrounding him.

Sirius thought it was time to break the silence that had lasted too long, in his opinion. "Why is it, that all Potter men fall for red heads?"

This made everyone laugh and for the first time in the last few months, Harry found himself not having to fake a smile.

**oOo**

"Not to ruin the moment-" James started.

"But you are." interjected Sirius.

Remus sent him a glare that soon shut him up.

"We should go to Dumbledore and get an explanation or at least a couple of answers about what's happened."

Harry or any of the others didn't have the heart to tell him or Lily, so they agreed to go to Dumbledore's office.

On the way there Harry, Ron and Hermione hung back so they were a little behind everyone else so they could talk without being overheard.

"Do you think we should've told them?" whispered Hermione.

"Probably," replied Ron "but I couldn't."

"I agree with Ron, Hermione. They looked so happy and if we told them, they would be crushed and I couldn't do that to them Hermione."

"Don't you think they would rather hear it from you than find out for themselves?"

"Hermione's right Harry."

"I can't do it alone, will you two help me?"

"Always." They replied together.

As they had been talking, they hadn't realised that everyone else had come to a stop at the stone gargoyles that guard Dumbledore's office until they bumped into them.

"Listen, we have something to tell you and it's not going to be easy." sighed Harry.

James and Lily were worried about their son. He was tensed up but as soon as Ron and Hermione put a hand on each of his shoulders, he visibly relaxed. They were both glad that their son had such good friends and it was clear they had been through a lot together and that they would stand by each other no matter what.

As the trio were about to break the news when the gargoyles jumped aside and told them to go on up. One of the gargoyles winked at the trio which only made them confused and they forgot about their news. The trio took the lead as they walked up the steps in a daze and took a deep breath before pushing open the door. What they saw made their jaws drop and gasp in surprise.

There, sitting behind the desk, with hands intertwined with his head resting on them, looking at them with those sparkling blue eyes was none other than;

Albus Dumbledore.


End file.
